Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Only three inches to go on the Black Bunny Falling Leaves socks! Should finish tonight.

Which means (joy!) a trip to the LYS tomorrow!!!! Mwaaahaaahaaa.

I must wax poetic on the brilliance that is Franklin's Panopticon blog. If you have not checked this one out, go! Now! Not many people can write a blog about knitting and whatnot that goes from rimming sugar one day to Zen musings the next. We won't even get into Dolores.

I've added him to the mental list of people who would come to my ideal cocktail party.

Friday, September 15, 2006

As Joni said, maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's the time of man...or maybe it's just the craptastic weather.

Anyway, as I sit here trying to counter my angst with a chocotini, some sing buri snack mix, and some Northern Exposure, I figured I'd try to get motivate by writing up my knitting Holiday list, so here it is:

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The pattern is from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. The name eludes me now. Something about boats or sailing or something. I really liked the pattern. Fun to do and it went quickly. The yarn is pure crap, but I love it in the way one might love a hairless cat, or a really ugly dog.

'Tis a rainy day here in PA and frankly socks like this make the day less dreary.

Yes, I know that in the dark of night, in the dark of my sock drawer, this pair will be the pair that all of the other socks, knit out of beautiful, high-quality yarn, will laugh at. And that just makes me want to give these ugly suckers a hug and tell them it's what's on the inside that counts.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

One thing I love about knitting is the amazing scope of the knitting world. There are as many patterns, books, blogs, yarns, and podcasts as there are fish in the sea. And there are as many opinions about all of them.

Admittedly, I'm an erratic knitter. I love projects that challenge me- a new way to attach a sleeve, different sock construction, my tentative forays into lace work. And I love really great yarn-- I'm over the moon about Black Bunny, and I do my fair share of obscene fondling in my LYS. But yes, I've used novelty yarns and cheap yarns. Usually for a project that cracks me up, like the Vegan Fox, or for a really so-fugly-I-love-them pair of socks I just finished. And sometimes I like a really mindless pattern, especially after finishing something that really pushed my boundaries. And it hurts a little to hear that it somehow makes me less of a serious knitter.

Same with knitting books. I love Ann Budd's books that give the basics of design for various gages, so one can design their own pieces. And Nicky Epstein's books of embellishments open up a whole world of design possibilities. But I also like having books likeOne Skein, where I can eat into my stash with some simple, but beautiful patterns, perhaps even creating some handmade gifts for loved ones along the way. I like having options to choose from and really don't want to have to feel shame for my knitting choices.

And now the same kinds of debates are rearing their ugly heads in the podcast realm. It seems that a recent article unfavorably compared Lime and Violet to Knitty D and the City. (To be VERY clear, neither group of women did anything to instigate this.) What a shame. I really enjoy both podcasts so, so much. Yes, both feature two fun, funny, intelligent women talking about knitting. Yes, both have segments talking about yarn. How exactly would one have a podcast about knitting without talking about yarn? It would be like talking about paintings without talking about paint color. I LIKE that there are a variety of podcasts out there. I LOVE that podcasting has put the power of mass communication back in the hands of the people. Shouldn't we be glad to have so many choices at our fingertips? Why would we want to limit ourselves to one podcast, one type of yarn, one type of knitting pattern? The pod-o-sphere is big enough for all of us to play nicely.

Funny that one of Brenda's recent podcasts had a wonderful essay about "older" knitters and "younger" ones (and by the way, what if Brenda had said to herself "Ya know, there is already a podcast out there of a woman talking about knitting. I guess I shouldn't do one too." Wouldn't the world be a sadder place?). This essay was a reminder about our roots as knitters. I frequently remember as I'm clicking away on a sock that my yarn links me back through countless generations of knitters. I am standing on the shoulders of giants. Our knitting traditions, cables, lace, etc. give us roots that we need to keep us grounded, but knitters who look at crazy yarn and say "I can make something really weird with that" remind us that the sky is the limit for our creativity.

I bet there was a time when some knitter made the first cable that he or she was ridiculed by some, and emulated by others. It's a big world and there's room for all of us to knit beautiful things to fill it as we see fit.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Here's the progress on Falling Leaves for the Black Bunny Hop. Love the color. And the Magic Loop is going fine. The toe up construction is a new thing for me, but the construction is really interesting.